Climax In a Narrative: Definition & Examples

The climax is arguably the most important part of a story. It is the part of the plot or narrative arc that usually decides the fate of our hero or protagonist (especially in tragedy) and should be executed with skill. There should be a logical connection between the action carried out by the protagonist in the climax and the resolution or denouement of the story.

Otherwise, you risk telling a meaningless tale. Let’s look at a formal definition of the term: 

The climax is the turning point in a narrative work and marks the highest dramatic tension.

It can also be seen as the point that determines how the denouement of the story unfolds. The most famous example of a climax is in Hamlet’s Closet Scene. It occurs in Act 3, Scene 4, when Hamlet sees someone (Polonius, advisor to King Claudius) eavesdropping on the conversation with his mother. 

He mistakes it for King Claudius and stabs Polonius to death, only to realize his mistake too late. This makes Laertes, son of Polonius, the enemy of Hamlet, who conspires with King Claudius to poison and kill Hamlet in the final act of the play. Thus, by killing Polonius, Hamlet seals his fate. 

In this article, we consider the climax within the context of the greater narrative arc and look at examples from Macbeth and Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birth-Mark” (published in 1846).

The importance of the climax

The climax can be seen as the most important point in the narrative arc. Ideally, it is where the most crucial decision is taken by the protagonist. For the climax to work effectively, it has to be coherent with the characterization, agency, and fate of the protagonist. It is usually a culmination rising action in the Narrative Arc. The diagram below demonstrates what the narrative arc looks like:

The plot in Hamlet perfectly captures the Rising Action, Climax, and Falling Action of a properly done narrative arc. It does so in three consecutive scenes in Act 3: 1. The Mousetrap Scene; 2. The Prayer Scene; and 3. The Closet Scene. 

Hamlet sets out to prove whether his uncle King Claudius is guilty of killing his father by putting on a play (the Mousetrap Scene) that mirrors his father’s murder. It works and Claudius’s reaction shows that he is indeed guilty. In the Prayer Scene, Hamlet catches Claudius praying and decides to kill him, then quickly decides against it. 

This is quickly followed by the Closet Scene, where Hamlet speaks with his mother Gertrude and catches someone spying behind the curtain. He stabs at the person, thinking it is Claudius, accidentally killing Polonius. The Falling Action occurs when King Claudius comes up with a secret plot to kill Hamlet by banishing to England with secret orders to the English king to kill him, a plot which fails.

We see the significance of the climax at the end of the play, when Laertes decides to work with King Claudius in a conspiracy to poison and kill Hamlet in a fencing match to avenge the killing of his father Polonius. In short, the killing of Polonius is seen as an error or fatal flaw committed by Hamlet. 

The fact that it occurs so quickly after the Prayer Scene, where Hamlet had a chance to kill Polonius as he prays, and decides not to show that this was a test that Hamlet more or less failed, with disastrous consequences. His initial decision not to act was the right decision. 

Character agency and climax 

The most effective climax occurs after a character makes a deliberate choice and suffers the consequence of that choice. For example, Hamlet makes a choice to kill Polonius and seals his fate as a result. Even if he mistakes him for King Claudius, this doesn’t matter. 

The Prayer Scene before that shows Hamlet making the right decision not to kill the king as he prays. Such a decision is tied into the Christian moral logic of the play, which purports that justice can only be served through lawful means: Either through a minister of justice ordained by heaven or in self-defense. This is why the play ends with Hamlet justifiably killing King Claudius in self-defense after Hamlet is poisoned by the king. 

In short, in the Closet Scene, Hamlet was tested by heaven, failed, and redeemed himself through self-sacrifice. The key point here is that the hero or protagonist is fully responsible for his or her action and the consequences thereof. This can be seen in Natahniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” (published in 1843), a short story not nearly as complicated as Hamlet but which nonetheless demonstrates the importance of character agency in the climax. It is an allegorical tale about the nature of beauty on earth.

There are three main characters: 1. Alymer, a brilliant scientist and alchemist, obsessed with achieving perfection; 2. Georgiana, his beautiful and angelic wife; and 3. Amindadab, his lowly assistant. Alymer’s wife is an almost perfect beauty, with one small defect. She has a birthmark on the center of her left cheek that resembles a little hand.

Alymer decides to heal her of this birthmark by coming up with an elixir that would get rid of it. He does so; however, Georgianna dies. The birthmark was an imperfection that kept Georginanna rooted on earth. As the narrator explains,  it “was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in union with a mortal frame.” After it vanishes, her soul transitions from the earth into the world of spirit.

The moral of the story is that perfection is not of the earth. Most of the characters in the play are stereotypes and flat. Georgianna is the trope of the dutiful, meek, and obedient wife. Aminadab is a lowly servant engaged in manual labor who speaks in grunts, and Alymer himself is the trope of the evil/mad scientist playing God. However, he is more of a round character.

He is portrayed as ambitious, a genius, and genuinely in love with his wife. More than that, he is shown as having complete agency in the decision to “heal” his wife. Alymer’s intuition warns him of the danger of attempting such a thing through a dream:

Aylmer now remembered his dream. He had fancied himself with his servant Aminadab, attempting an operation for the removal of the birthmark; but the deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until at length its tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana's heart; whence, however, her husband was inexorably resolved to cut or wrench it away.

This more or less foreshadows the death of Georgianna. However, in what can be seen as the climax of the short story, Alymer, with supreme confidence in his skill as a scientist and alchemist, goes ahead with the operation after telling Georgianna of the dream. In short, he is fully responsible for the decision that leads to his wife’s death. 

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The climax in Macbeth 

In Macbeth, it is often assumed that the climax occurs when Macbeth decides to kill King Duncan in Act 2, Scene 2. However, this is not the case. Remember, in the case of Hamlet, the climax decides the tragic fate of Hamlet because Hamlet makes a crucial decision. 

When Macbeth decides to kill King Duncan, there is every chance that he can get away with it. He even acknowledges as much in the famous dinner scene when he ponders whether or not to kill Duncan. 

If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well

It were done quickly. If th’ assassination

Could trammel up the consequence and catch

With his surcease success, that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,

But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

We’d jump the life to come. (Act 1, Scene 7)

Macbeth here is acknowledging that the assasination of Duncan would be tactically, militarily, and politically effective. He cannot engage in open rebellion against the king, as a few scenes earlier, he took part in a battle (on Duncan’s side) that crushed a thane who challenged Duncan’s authority. This is what he means when he says: “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly.” The king commands too much respect, loyalty, and political skill to engage in open rebellion against him. In short, Duncan must die.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

“It” here refers to deposing Duncan. He acknowledges that he may lose his soul (i.e., “jump the life to come”) and is willing to resign himself to that fate as the price for the earthly success of his schemes. And he was seemingly right. After murdering Duncan, he becomes king and stays in power and could arguably remain in power unchallenged till death. The turning point of the plot comes with the murder of Banquo in Act 3, Scene 3. (For an alternative view that argues that the climax is the killing of Lady Macduff and her son, see Macbeth: Summary & Plot Analysis). 

Macbeth decides to kill both Banquo and his son Fleance because he fears the Three Witches' prophecy of Banquo’s issue becoming king. He is so bloodthirsty and paranoid that he interprets this as a threat to his power, even if he has no children. The murderers hired by Macbeth manage to kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes after following his dying father’s advice: “Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!” (Act 3, Scene 3).

This marks the turning point for Macbeth. His bloodthirstiness sees his rivals or potential rivals slowly allying themselves with each other. As part of the falling action in the plot, he needlessly murders the wife and child of Macduff, which causes Macduff to form an alliance with Malcolm, the son of Duncan in England, which eventually deposes Macbeth. While Duncan commanded enough respect and loyalty from his allies and subjects to crush an open rebellion against him in the first act of the play, Macbeth’s evil actions had the exact opposite effect. 

The escape of Fleance also reinforces a major theme in Macbeth. Temporary evil cannot triumph over good. This is why “good Fleance” is able to evade Macbeth. Even the ghost of Fleance’s father shows up at the banquet in Act 3, Scene 4 to wordlessly mock and rebuke Macbeth’s vain attempt to beat fate. 

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2025, October 12). Climax In a Narrative: Definition & Examples. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/climax